Page 28 - Flathead Beacon // 4.8.15

28 | APRIL 8, 2015
NEWS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
MINE
Continued from page 5
lieve miners could be moving under- ground sooner rather than later.
On March 26, the Kootenai Nation- al Forest issued a final environmen- tal impact statement and draft record of decision tentatively approving the Montanore Mine project. The project’s owner, Mines Management of Spokane, Washington, said that if the final record of decision is released this summer, at least 30 people could be working under- ground by the end of the year to start de- veloping the mine.
Then, less than 24 hours after Mines Management got the news they had been waiting years to receive, the Hecla Min- ing Company announced that it was buying the Revett Mining Company and its Rock Creek project. While Revett has struggled to stay afloat financially in recent years, CEO John Shanahan said Hecla is a large company with the “capa- bilities to get this project across the fin- ish line.”
While local officials in Lincoln County lauded the news that new jobs could be coming to the economically depressed area, environmental groups have raised concerns about two major minesbeingbuiltunderneaththeCabi- net Mountain Wilderness.
“The Cabinet Mountains could be hit hard from both sides (if these proj- ects are approved and built),” said Chris Brick, science director of the Clark Fork Coalition in Missoula.
Located along the border of Lin- coln and Sanders counties, just beneath the Cabinet Mountains, lies two of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and silver deposits. According to Mines Management CEO Glenn Dobbs, both mines could produce more than 500 mil- lion ounces of silver and 4 billion pounds of copper in their lifetime. The two de- posits are separated by about 7,000 feet of earth and a fault line, suggesting that at one time it was actually one ore body.
Mining companies began exploring the Cabinet Mountains for copper and silver in the 1960s and 1970s and start- ed developing the Montanore and Rock Creek projects in the 1980s. Both proj- ects changed hands over the years and by the mid-2000s ended up with Mines Management and Revett as owners, re- spectively. Since then, both companies have been trying to line up the correct state and federal permits to start min- ing.
But environmental groups have promised to fight the projects every step of the way, citing a variety of issues. Mary Costello is the executive director of the Rock Creek Alliance and said that either mine could have “massive, long-term impacts” on area wildlife and water.
Costello, who lives in Trout Creek, said she is particularly concerned about the dewatering of wilderness streams, add- ing that it could impact endangered bull trout. Critics say that both mines could have permanent impacts on the ground water table and leave some stream beds dry year round.
The mining companies say there are ways to reduce the impacts the projects will have on the water table and that the environmental impact statements ad- dress those issues. But Brick, the scien- tist with the Clark Fork Coalition, said it is hard to predict what the ground- water would do in that area because it is contained within fractured bedrock. She said it would be years before any- one would know the true impacts to the groundwater.
Costello also worried that allowing the construction of two mines on either side of the wilderness would create noise and light pollution that would impact the visitor experience for those who ven- ture onto the protected land. She said her group would bring litigation forward if either project gets final approval and criticized the U.S. Forest Service for how it’s handled the permitting process.
“They’re suppose to be land stew- ards, so how can they allow these mines to move forward if they’re going to de- water wilderness streams,” Costello said. “These mines will turn a wilder- ness area into an industrial zone.”
But officials with both Mines Man- agement and Revett disagree and say that all environmental concerns would be addressed in the final and supplemen- tal environmental impact statements due this year.
Dobbs, the CEO of Mines Manage- ment, said he was not surprised that the Rock Creek Alliance was already plan- ning on litigating the Montanore project and called it a “knee-jerk reaction.”
“The Rock Creek Alliance has estab- lished itself as a group that is anti-min- ing and anti-business,” Dobbs said. “I find it fascinating that they would prom- ise litigation when they haven’t even read the final environmental impact statement or draft record of decision.”
Shanahan, the CEO of Revett, agreed with Dobbs that the Rock Creek Alli- ance’s claims were unfounded and said the company’s Troy Mine proves that. The Troy Mine was first operated from 1981 to 1993 and reopened by Revett in 2005. The mine was shut down in 2012 following a series of underground rock falls and Hecla has announced plans to permanently close the mine if it com- pletes the purchase of Revett.
“The Troy Mine has been there for 30 years and it has had no impact on the wilderness whatsoever,” Shanahan said. “It’s a showcase of what can be done and it’s a direct analog for Rock Creek.”
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“THESE MINES WILL TURN A WILDERNESS AREA INTO AN INDUSTRIAL ZONE.” Mary Costello